Arcane Colleges¶
Contested
Named in the open question Witchcraft's place; Mithis metals: the newest notes divide arcane magic into nine major and twenty minor Spheres, where the treatise and the Sancturi drafts divide it into twelve domains and their colleges.
"Chronomancy deals with the distortion and manipulation of Time. This college is almost universally ill-favored among mages." — the Chronomancy college (S309)
Arcane magic is studied by domain and college. Each of its twelve domains works one plane or force, six of them terrestrial and six celestial, and each domain is divided into four or five colleges, schools of study through which a mage climbs from novice to grandmaster. The colleges give the arcane world its vocabulary: a mage is a chronomancer or a nethermancer, a specialist in Conjunction or a dabbler in Sanception, and the great mages of the orders are remembered by the spells of their college that carry their names. This page describes the domains and colleges as the world knows them; the spells themselves are rules material.
The twelve domains¶
"Arcane Magic is divided into 12 domains, 6 from the Terrestrial realm (Faerie) and 6 from the Celestial (Ethereal)" (S208, S304). "The Terrestrial colleges each manipulate one of the Elemental Planes: Air, Earth, Fire and Water as well as two of the intertwined Energy Planes: Positive and Negative. The Celestial colleges each manipulate one of the Outer Planes: Astral, Void, Ethereal and Shadow as well as the energies surrounding Chaos and Order" (S208). Each domain has a Latin name and an opposite (S304, S208, S302):
| Domain | Latin | Realm | Opposite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | Fluvius | terrestrial | Fire |
| Fire | Incendium | terrestrial | Water |
| Air | Caelum | terrestrial | Earth |
| Earth | Terra | terrestrial | Air |
| Light | Genus | terrestrial | Darkness |
| Darkness | Perdo | terrestrial | Light |
| Aether (Spirit) | Aethereus | celestial | Shadow |
| Shadow | Sensus | celestial | Aether |
| Astral | Aurae | celestial | Nether |
| Nether | Inanis | celestial | Astral |
| Animus | Cresco | celestial | Imperia |
| Imperia | Dominus | celestial | Animus |
The planes the domains work are described under Elemental Planes, Energy Planes, Astral Plane, Shadow Realm and Void; Nether itself is described under Nature of Magic. The worksheet of the colleges gives Astral the sense of Order, Nether of Void, Animus of Life, Imperia of Control, Aether of Spirit and Shadow of Mind (S302).
A college is a ladder. "Every domain has its own set of colleges. The colleges provide a progression of learning and mastery. In order to learn a 2nd order spell from a given college, a 1st order spell must be learned first" (S304). The ranks run from Novice through Initiate, Adept and Master to Grandmaster (S293, S309); a planning note places "Demigod, Ascendant, Archwizard" above the archmasters and "God" above them (S204).
The celestial colleges¶
Aether¶
| College | What it works |
|---|---|
| Expulvation | "the severance and/or destruction of the spirit. Often shunned by those of good alignment, it is commonly referred to by it's nickname: Death Magic" (S293); see Death Magic |
| Involution | "spiritual projection where the spirit leaves the body for a short period"; the projected spirit "must physically return the body. This can be dangerous if the spirit gets trapped" (S294) |
| Pneumatology | "the manipulation of the Pneuma (the core spirit)", using "the spirit as a means of control either via containment or force" (S295) |
| Spectromancy | "the empyrean undead (apparitions) and the binding and warping of undead spirits to serve you", working through "the shroud", the "limited reality that apparitions are able to experience while existing in the in-between" (S296) |
| Spectrovoyancy | "the revelation of information from the spirit and in some cases about enhancing signals from the spirit to the body" (S297) |
Animus¶
| College | What it works |
|---|---|
| Biomorphology | alteration of living bodies (S302) |
| Remediancy | "empowering a physical body's remediancy systems (immune system, cellular regeneration, etc) to amplify health and injury recovery"; its first working is the Blessing of Medicaelus (S299) |
| Vivanimancy | "protecting, supporting and enhancing living systems" (S300) |
| Philanimy | "emotions and the emotional state of the living"; those worked on too often become "Emotionally Numb" (S298) |
Vivanimancy's famous mages are Cuordaxis, "a secretive mage whose works came to light after his death. His work focused on using Vivanimancy to shield himself from harm", and the Nexa-Vinian Poltemarc, whose "work focused on using Vivanimancy to overstimulate the target to their detriment. His spells are quite rare, but also highly sought after by combat casters" (S300; see Minor Figures of the Magical Orders). Those who live long under its blessings bear a "Taxed Frame" (S300).
Astral¶
| College | What it works |
|---|---|
| Conjuration | construction (S302) |
| Enchantment | spellbinding (S302) |
| Lexisacrology | contracts (S302) |
| Sanception | "the manipulation of astral shards and their associated rites ... exactly like divine magic except without the divine mandate and permission (anointing)" (S306) |
| Divination | "the sending and receiving of senses, signals and information across the planes" (S305) |
Sanception is tolerated and punished. "Most gods do not approve of this use of their shards, but accept it as unavoidable. If caught, however, the gods like to make an example of the defiler and will extract some form of punishment, in some cases taking away the their casting ability. There are some rare cases where a god sanctions this type of casting without an anointing. This is usually when the caster is a devout worshipper or servant and gives the god proper credit" (S306). Its Latin name is Deus-Furatas (S306). See Divine Magic.
Imperia¶
| College | What it works |
|---|---|
| Hemopaturgy | blood: "Pain, Blood Augury" (S302); its own draft is empty (S308) |
| Necromancy | animation (S302) |
| Exhauration | withering (S302) |
| Imperiation | dominion (S302) |
Nether¶
| College | What it works |
|---|---|
| Chronomancy | "the distortion and manipulation of Time" (S309) |
| Conjunction | "the warping and/or tearing of local planar space between two points. Often used for teleportation and pseudo-summoning. Because of it's raw and violent nature, many conjunction spells inflict substantial wear and tear on their subject(s)" (S310) |
| Nethermancy | "the forces and energies of the Void. It often takes advantage of entropic disparities between the local environment and points in the Void to create a current of Nether energy from one point to another" (S311) |
| Telemancy | "the creation of rifts between planes and points in space. Used in teleportation, portals and inter-planar travel" (S312) |
Chronomancy is the most feared of the colleges. It "is almost universally ill-favored among mages due to two factors. The first is that it is considered an extremely dangerous magic even for the most proficient due to fact that the alteration of time can have significant unforeseen complications. The second is that almost all mages that begin to master this this magic are never heard from again" (S309). Its dangers have names. A Temporal Shift is "a state applied to beings and objects that are not yet fully fixed in the current space-time", which "greatly increases the chance of producing a Temporal Fissure", "a tear in time-space. These are very dangerous and can result in the complete destruction of a target or caster of the spell". A Time Paradox "can result in a split reality, which will result in one of the realities being destroyed ... Paradoxes are resolved by the removal of paradoxical elements. One of those elements is always the being which introduced the paradox (ie the caster)" (S309). The college also names Temporcision, against which only a Chronosphere protects (S309).
Conjunction's masters are the Acadian Lystervar, "credited with developing and tuning most of the widely used micro-shunt spells", and the Nexa-Vinian Nythassi, "an expert in using conjunction for local space distortion, many of her spells remain very popular" (S310). Teleported things suffer "Molecular Disorder" (S310, S312). Nethermancy's is the Acadian Gustraeva, "considered a rogue mage by many who pioneered the research to control Nether entities" (S311). All are described under Minor Figures of the Magical Orders.
Shadow¶
| College | What it works |
|---|---|
| Mesmerology | charm (S302, S313) |
| Phantasmography | illusion (S302) |
| Telekinetics | psionics (S302) |
| Umbragation | shadow-walking (S302) |
The terrestrial colleges¶
| Domain | Colleges |
|---|---|
| Air | Aeromancy (conjuration), Avianomy (flight), Noxication (gases), Fulguronomy (storms) |
| Darkness | Fascadurgy (illusion), Hexcedation (curses), Melanomancy (conjuration) |
| Earth | Causticurgy (acid), Figuration (metal), Geomancy (conjuration), Geomorphology (shaping), Horticology (land and plants) |
| Fire | Incendics (conjuration), Thermokinetics (light and heat), Vulconomy (magma), Ruination (conflagration), Pyrodynamics (combustion) |
| Light | Lucenturgy (purification), Luminomancy (conjuration), Veritonomy (truth) |
| Water | Cryodynamics (frost), Hydrokinetics (flows), Hydromancy (conjuration), Toximancy (poison) |
The worksheet ties each terrestrial college but the conjuring one to a second force: Avianomy to Light, Noxication to Darkness, Fulguronomy to Water, Figuration to Fire, Toximancy to Darkness, and so on (S302). Several of the colleges have no description beyond their names.
The Schools of Pyromancy¶
Fire magic has its own compendium, which calls the five fire colleges the Schools of Pyromancy: Incendics, to "conjure flame"; Thermokinetics, "heat and light"; Vulcanology, "melting and magma"; Ruination, to "consume/destroy"; and Pyrodynamics, "combustion" (S307). Its ranks run Apprentice, Adept, Master and Grandmaster (S307). Among its workings is Darkfire, of Ruination: a fire that "emits no light in the visible spectrum, but gives off heat like a normal fire. A person looking closely in the right light can see the twisting air currents from the heat" (S307).
Gap
The colleges' place in the world beyond a handful of reputations is not described: no source says which orders teach which colleges, which are outlawed outright, or how the colleges survived the abandonment of Mithis in the Fifth Age.
Earlier accounts¶
The 2017 draft names the twelfth domain Imperia (Dominus) and the celestial spirit domain Aether (S304); the 2022 treatise names them Decay (Putro) and Spirit, and lists Light and Darkness among the Evoker's colleges where the draft has Imperia (S208, S304). The worksheet spells the death college both Expluvation and Expulvation (S302, S293), and the fire compendium names the magma college Vulcanology where the worksheet has Vulconomy (S307, S302).
The newest notes reorganise all of this into Spheres: "The 9 Major Spheres or Colleges of Astral Magic are the 4 elemental spheres (Air, Earth, Fire, Water), 2 energy spheres (White, Black) and 3 planar spheres (Spirit, Animus and Phase)", with twenty minor spheres from Abyss and Astra to Storms and Truth (S205). The 2014 archive's colleges and meta-colleges are described under Casting Focuses of the Earlier Ages.
Legacy rules for the colleges are kept under Mechanics: Arcane Colleges, with Aether Colleges, Animus Colleges, Astral Colleges, Nether Colleges and Fire Magic.